A New Adventure is Available Now in Fortnite Season 8

It’s that time of the year again: a new Fortnite season is upon us! Yes, Season 8 has arrived and a monstrous volcano has appeared on the main island. Freed from the Ice King’s castle, the now-powerful Prisoner (you might recognize him as the reward for completing 60 weekly challenges in Season 7) has brought fire and flame to Fortnite and its islands.

In addition to the wide variety of over-the-top skins from previous seasons, Pirates, Ninjas and a ship load of new fighters will tussle over treasure, battle with Pirate Cannons and uncover legendary loot. If you’re the type of Fortnite player who loves to explore new and fresh areas, the new Lazy Lagoon and Sunny Steps locations are just a jump away with the help of Volcanic Vents. With tons of new areas to explore and secrets to uncover, X marks the spot this season!

There are also some new features coming to Fortnite. The biggest of these is probably Party Assist, which allows you to pick a Daily or Weekly challenge before a match, then complete it with the help of your friends. Team up with a friend (or a group of them) to complete these new social challenges together.

Of course, a new season also means a brand-new Battle Pass. For the low, low price of only 950 V-bucks, you can gain access to 100 new exclusive rewards that are ready for you to unlock. Right off the bat, you’ll earn the Blackheart and Hybrid progressive outfits, both of which can level-up to unlock new styles.

If you’re like me, you most likely completed the 13 free Overtime Challenges during the Share the Love event, so you can claim your free Season 8 Battle Pass at the Battle Pass tab or upgrade to a Battle Bundle at a discount.

Creative Mode

Enjoy building your own challenges? Well, you’re in luck with this update, as four all-new Volcanic Islands are now available in Creative. Set up deadly traps or harrowing trials in your own adventure games using the new Jungle Temple Prefab and Pinball Bumpers, exclusive to Fortnite Creative.

Save the World

But that’s not all! You can now play your own way with the new Hero Loadout overhaul in Save the World mode. You can customize your playstyle by mixing-and-matching new and unique perks for each Hero. Choose a Commander, five Support Team members, and one team perk to tailor the way you play.

Eight new, unique quests have also been added to Save the World, with each unlocking a new Hero to add to your roster. More Heroes means more combos, so build your customized team, save your favorite presets, and prepare to Save the World.

Tesla delivers big price cuts to Model S and Model X vehicles – TechCrunch

Tesla made a flurry of announcements this afternoon with the highlight being the company’s reveal of its $35k Model 3. That reveal grabbed the most headlines, but updates to the Model S and Model X lines brought the costs of high-end models down with maxed out Performance + Ludicrous Mode versions of the S and X receiving healthy $18k discounts.

The Model S has the same entry-level price at $79k but the price bump to go from the Standard Range to more souped up versions is a lot more accessible with some huge price drops on the Long Range and Performance models.

The Long Range Model S, which takes the top speed from 140mph to 155 mph and the range from 270 miles to 335 miles, now prices in at $83k, down from $96k. With $4k separating the standard and long-range models, it’s interesting that they even decided to keep the Standard Range version and didn’t just have the Long Range as the entry-level model with the Performance version (now $13k cheaper as well at $99k) maxing things out.

The Long Range Model X now starts at $88k, down from $96k. Moving up to the Performance model which drops the 0-60 mph time to 3.5 seconds is $104k, previously $117k. With both Performance models of the S and X, you can add Ludicrous Mode for $15k, an upgrade that used to be $20k.

How is Tesla able to make these big cuts? Well, Tesla CEO Elon Musk highlighted the company’s coming closure of its physical dealerships as a major catalyst for the price drop across its product line.

“Shifting all sales online, combined with other ongoing cost efficiencies, will enable us to lower all vehicle prices by about 6% on average, allowing us to achieve the $35,000 Model 3 price point earlier than we expected,” the company wrote in a post.

Via Tesla:

Model S variants 

• Standard Range ($79K): 270-mile range; 140mph top speed; 4.2-sec 0-60mph.
• Long Range (now $83k; previously $96k): 335-mile range; 155mph top speed; 4.1-sec 0-60mph. 
• Performance (now $99k; previously $112k): 315-mile range; 155mph top speed; 3.0-sec 0-60mph. 
• Performance + Ludicrous Mode (now $114k; previously $132k); 155mph top speed; 2.4-sec 0-60mph. 

Model X variants

• Long Range (now $88k; previously $96k): 295-mile range; 155mph top speed; 4.7-sec 0-60mph.
• Performance (now $104k; previously $117k): 289-mile range; 155mph top speed; 3.5-sec 0-60mph. 
• Performance + Ludicrous Mode (now $119k; previously $137k): 289-mile range; 155mph top speed; 2.8-sec 0-60mph.

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Tesla closing retail stores in shift to online-only sales strategy – TechCrunch

Tesla is moving all of its sales online, a dramatic shift in its sales strategy that will result in the closure of stores and some layoffs as the automaker looks for ways to reduce costs in order to bring a cheaper Model 3 to market.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk didn’t say how many stores would close. He noted that some stores would remain and turn into information centers and showrooms. The company didn’t provide specific numbers on how many retail employees might be affected.

“We will be closing some stores and that will be some reduction in head count as a result; there’s no question about that,” Musk said. “There’s no other way for us to achieve the savings required to provide this car and be financially sustainable. I wish there was another but unfortunately, it will entail reduction in workforce on the retail side, no way around it.”

The shift to online-only sales, plus other cost efficiencies, allowed the company to lower all vehicle prices by about 6% on average and finally offer $35,000 Model 3.

Meanwhile, Tesla plans to hire more service technicians, or mechanics, Musk noted during a call with reporters Thursday. Tesla didn’t provide details on how many mechanics it plans to hire.

In order to mitigate the need for a test ride, Tesla is extending the return policies on its vehicles. New customers will be able own a car for a week and driver for 1,000 miles and still return it for a full refund if they don’t like it, Musk said. 

“That’s why we’re going to essentially allow somebody to use the car for free for a week, and return it for a full refund,” Musk said. “And we’re going to make it super easy to get a refund like one click refund.”

Tesla announced Thursday that it was offering a $35,000 version of the Model 3, that will have a 220 miles of range and be able to reach a top speed of 130 miles per hour. 

The company also said it’s introducing a Model 3 Standard Range Plus version, which offers 240 miles of range, a top speed of 140 mph, and 0-60mph acceleration of 5.3 seconds as well as most premium interior features at $37,000 before incentives.

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Google is not great at retaining black, Latinx and Native American employees – TechCrunch

Believe it or not, the retention of black and Latinx employees at Google was better last year than in 2017. Though, Google’s attrition rates of black and Latinx — which indicate the rate at which employees leave on an annual basis — are still higher than the national average.

For Native American employees, Google’s attrition rates significantly increased from the year prior. To be clear, that’s a bad thing. For what it’s worth, Google is also not great at retaining white employees.

Google publishes the data as a weighted index and treats the average attrition rate as 100. The closer each group is to 100, the close to parity Google is. If a group’s index is 90, that means the group’s attrition rate was 10 percent lower than the average.

“While there are positive trends, there is still work to be done,” Global Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Melanie Parker wrote in a blog post. “Specifically, attrition for Native Americans worsened. And while rates improved for Black and Latinx Googlers, they are still not on par with the average. These are all areas we plan to focus on over the coming year.”

Google released its first attrition index last year to show how many employees left the company on annual basis. Based on last year’s data, it was clear Google had the hardest time retaining black and brown employees. In fact, black and brown people were leaving Google at rates faster than the national average.

At the time, then-Google VP of Diversity and Inclusion Danielle Brown told TechCrunch the attrition rates for black and Latinx people were “a clear low light.”

A highlight, however, was that women were leaving Google at lower rates than the average. And this year’s data for women is slightly better, with an attrition rate of 90 compared to 94 the year prior. But we’ll see how the latest wave of controversy (harassment, walkouts, etc) at Google affects its attrition rates for 2019.

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Learn to Love Yourself Healthy at Our H3 Retreat

It won’t surprise any of you to hear that we’re as focused on our mission as ever. We’ve been exploring a few new ways to get our message — that you can’t hate yourself healthy — out to the world. and we are beyond psyched to share that we’ve got an incredible opportunity coming up this spring: A retreat with me (Kristen) and our resident coach and yogi, Alison Heilig at Hilton Head Health (aka H3)!

(And don’t worry — Jenn will be Skyping in for a few sessions, too. She might be expecting twins, but she’d never miss an opportunity to connect with you!)

Excited? So. Are. We.

Here’s what you need to know:

The Love Yourself Healthy Retreat at Hilton Head Health

Dates: May 16-19, 2019

Where: Hilton Head Resort on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

What to expect: A mix of presentations and discussions alongside shared meals and workouts will give us the chance to truly get to know one another, and will offer ample opportunities to put every aspect of our “love yourself healthy” program into practice. We’ll discuss:

• our food (and the complicated relationship so many of us have with it)
• our bodies (including why diets don’t work and why some of the beliefs you hold are holding you back from feeling your best)
• our workouts (and, hey, you know we’re gonna get sweaty together, right?)

And, ultimately, we’ll put it all together and help you create a personalized healthy blueprint that’ll have you showing yourself unconditional self love (and feeling healthier than ever) long after you’ve gone home. Because, really, that’s our biggest goal — to help you realize that everything you need is already within you. You might just need a little help finding it.

But! Our sessions are only part of the trip. Whether you come for just the four days we’re there or extend it for a seven-night stay, you’ll have access to everything H3 has to offer. And that’s a lot! Here’s the scoop:

Hilton Head Health is recognized as a world leader in destination wellness resorts. Our community of supportive dietitians, psychologists, wellness educators, fitness trainers, chefs and spa therapists draws upon H3’s decades of experience to create personalized medically based programs that will help you achieve real results and set you on a path towards sustained health and wellness. When you treat yourself to an H3 vacation, you come home with more than a souvenir. You come home a changed person with a game plan for living a healthy life.

Looking for a more specific answer as to what they’ve got at H3? In addition to the Love Yourself Healthy Program, you’ll have access to a variety of fitness classes (Pilates, TRX, Zumba, barre, yoga, cardio boxing, beach walks and more), meditation options, healthy gourmet dining, a spa, and more.

H3 is well-known for its weight-loss programs and certainly has resources for specifically that on its property, but for this retreat, we’ll really be focusing on finding fitness and health at all sizes. So no matter your goal, come join us!

If you’d like to register (or just learn a little more), you can get all the basics and pricing here, and more detail on the program here.

Hope to see you there! —Kristen

Amazon Prime members can choose a weekly delivery date with launch of ‘Amazon Day’ – TechCrunch

Amazon this morning launched a new delivery option for Prime members that will allow them to control when their orders arrive, Amazon Day. The option lets shoppers pick a day of the week to take delivery of their recent orders. The boxes arrive together on the selected Amazon Day in fewer boxes, the company says, which makes deliveries more predictable.

The move clearly benefits Amazon by reducing the number of deliveries drivers have to make to the same address, while positioning the option as a new Prime “perk.” However, there are benefits to grouping shipments like this. For example, if you live in an area where package theft is a concern, you could make your “Amazon Day” a day you are scheduled to work from home, for example.

It also means you’ll have fewer boxes to break down and recycle, which could be useful for regular Amazon shoppers concerned about waste.

Amazon says it tested the new shipping option with a group of Prime members and found that Amazon Day reduced packaging by “tens of thousands” of boxes over the course of several months. An Amazon rep would not confirm how many Prime members were participating in that test, however.

The new delivery option is considered part of Amazon’s larger set of sustainability initiatives focused on achieving Shipment Zero – its plans to make 50 percent of all Amazon shipments net zero carbon by 2030.

“Amazon Day adds another level of convenience to the many shipping benefits Prime members already enjoy. Prime members can now choose to get their orders delivered together in fewer boxes whenever possible on the day that works best for them,” said Maria Renz, Vice President, Delivery Experience at Amazon, in a statement.

To use the new feature, Prime members can select the “Amazon Day” option at checkout and pick the day of the week that works for them. Throughout the week, as you place more orders you’ll continue to pick “Amazon Day” as your delivery option. The items then deliver free on the day of your choosing.

Most items can be ordered for Amazon Day delivery up to two days before the chosen day arrives.

However, setting an Amazon Day option doesn’t prevent you from ordering other items for faster delivery, if needed. That means you can still set deliveries to free two-day shipping, one-day shipping, same-day shipping or two-hour delivery, where offered. In addition, your Subscribe & Save items will continue to ship on their own schedule.

Amazon currently runs several initiatives aimed at reducing its impact on the environment and energy consumption, including things like Frustration-Free Packaging and Ship in Own Container. It also has a network of solar and wind farms, solar on its fulfillment center rooftops and investments in the circular economy, though it has recently been dinged by Greenpeace for not moving quickly on commitments to shift to renewable energy.

Other retailers are making similar moves to focus on their environmental impact of e-commerce. Walmart this week announced its own plastic packaging waste reduction commitments across over 30,000 SKUs, and Etsy said it had become the first global e-commerce company to completely offset carbon emissions from shipping by purchasing offsets from its partner, 3Degrees.

These decisions aren’t entirely altruistic. Consumers – especially those in the younger demographic – are increasingly concerned about the sustainability factor and environmental impacts of e-commerce purchases, and this can influence their behavior when it comes to where to shop.

Amazon Day is rolling out today to all Prime members in the U.S.

 

The X-Men struggle to contain Jean Grey in the latest trailer for Dark Phoenix

20th Century Fox debuted a second trailer for the long-awaited next (and presumably final) installment its X-Men franchise, Dark Phoenix.

Directed by Simon Kinberg, the film reunites James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, and others to adapt the Dark Phoenix storyline from the X-Men comics. The story is one of the best-known from the X-Men comics franchise, in which mutant Jean Grey is exposed to radiation, which boost her powers. The studio released its first trailer last fall, showing off the danger that Jean Grey’s powers pose to the world, and the complicity that Professor Xavier (player by McAvoy) has in her formation.

We see a bit of this in the trailer: the X-Men head to space and are hit by a “mysterious cosmic force.” Jean vanishes and reappears on Earth, and we see her speaking with someone (played by Jessica Chastain), who tells her that “if you stop fighting that force inside you, if you embrace it, we will possess the very power of a god.” That spells trouble for the rest of the X-Men, who have to find a way to contain that power and save their friend.

The film is the sequel to 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, The Dark Phoenix storyline was originally covered in Brett Ratner’s 2006 film X-Men: Last Stand, but when the franchise’s timeline was reset with 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, Fox had an opportunity to give the story another chance. The studio released its first trailer last fall, showing off the danger that Jean Grey’s powers pose to the world, and the complicity that Professor Xavier (player by McAvoy) has in her formation.

Dark Phoenix has had a long road to get to theaters. Filming began in 2017, the film was originally supposed to be in theaters in March 2018, only to get pushed back to February 2019, and again to June 2019, after test screenings prompted numerous reshoots. With Disney’s impending acquisition of 21st Century Fox, this film will also likely be the last installment of this particular franchise, as it seems likely that characters will be folded into Disney’s larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives on June 7th, 2019.

Are Britney and Jo Sisters on Grey’s Anatomy?

Grey's Anatomy is coming up on its historic, record-breaking 332nd episode, making it the longest-running primetime medical drama ever, so naturally we've been on high alert for any potential twists and unexpected curveballs that showrunner Krista Vernoff might toss our way. Now, a new theory suggests that Jo, played by Camilla Luddington, could be involved in a surprise connection — could she be related to Betty (Peyton Kennedy), also known as Britney? A new theory from Reddit user fivedaysthatsaweek makes a compelling case for it.

To give you some context, in last week's episode, "I Want a New Drug," we see Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) attempting to break the record for the longest surgery ever at Grey-Sloan Memorial. She's nearly interrupted when over 50 addicts are brought in with opiate overdoses due to taking laced pills, with one of them being Betty Britney. Teddy (Kim Raver) is able to save Britney during surgery, but it seems like she'll most likely leave Amelia's care, even though she did everything to try to keep her clean, because of her parents resurfacing.

Since Britney's parents have since claimed Leo, Britney's young son who Owen was fostering and prepared to raise as his own child, it's unlikely that Britney would still stay with Amelia. After all, if her parents have found her and realize that they need to help her with her addiction or else lose their daughter for good, they'll likely whisk her away. The effects this will have on Owen and Amelia's relationship don't look promising, but as fivedaysthatsaweek points out, there are glaring parallels between Britney and Jo's histories.

Britney first shows up on Grey's as a teen mom going by a different name, ready to give up her baby. Now, in previous episodes of the show, we've discovered that Jo was originally named Brooke, until she changed it, and was dropped off at a fire station when she was an infant. She subsequently spent much of her childhood in foster homes. Could Jo's parents also be Britney's?

Theory (potential spoilers) from r/greysanatomy

Another Reddit user, TgitDude, even came up with a theory about how Jo would come to realize they share the same parents: a court battle between Owen and Amelia against Britney's parents.

Prediction about Britney's mom from r/greysanatomy

We haven't gotten to delve too much into Jo's backstory quite yet, other than learning of her ex-husband and the fact that she's known Link for a while. A storyline like this could be the perfect, soapy way to dig into her background and flesh out details of her past that we haven't been privy to. And to top it all off, it would make a lot of thematic sense since Grey's Anatomy has a history of reuniting long-lost sisters.

Mirakl raises $70 million to manage the marketplace of your e-commerce website – TechCrunch

French startup Mirakl raised a $70 million funding round. Bain Capital is leading the round with existing investors 83North, Felix Capital and Elaia Partners also participating.

If you’ve bought a few products from a third-party seller on an e-commerce website that isn’t Amazon or Alibaba, chances are you’ve used Mirakl in the past. The company has built a solution to manage the marketplace of your e-commerce platform.

While Mirakl doesn’t have a ton of customers, each customer is very valuable. The company has worked with some of the biggest names in e-commerce so that they could add a new revenue stream with a marketplace. Examples include Best Buy in Canada, Walmart in Mexico, Office Deport and Darty.

The startup also lets you create B2B marketplaces for bulk selling and other complicated transactions. Sellers can set minimum and maximum quantities and customize their listings.

In 2018, the startup managed to add 60 customers and launch 37 marketplaces — it doubled the gross merchandise volume compared to 2017. And it’s true that marketplaces are attractive. You can greatly increase your sales without any physical infrastructure investment as third-party sellers handle logistics.

Behind the scene, Mirakl has developed connectors that work with multiple e-commerce platforms. After setting up Mirakl, your third-party sellers will also get their own on-boarding back end. And Mirakl continuously helps you when it comes to maintaining a certain level of quality and handling orders.

More recently, Mirakl has developed a catalog manager so that you can more easily manage product listings. It lets you get product information, merge product listings and moderate your platform in general. Any e-commerce website can use it, not just websites that operate a Mirakl marketplace.

The company has also launched a services marketplace so that you can upsell your customers before they check out with extended warranties and insurance products from third-party companies.

Mirakl works with global B2B platforms as well as retail websites that usually operate in a country or a handful of countries. 30 percent of retail clients are French, 30 percent are American and 40 percent are from the rest of the world. The startup charges an upfront fee as well as a monthly subscription that varies according to the success of your marketplace.

With today’s funding round, the company plans to do more of the same, at a bigger scale. Mirakl will expand the team, expand to new countries and improve its product offering.

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Go-Jek’s Get app officially launches in Thailand as Southeast Asia expansion continues – TechCrunch

Go-Jek is extending its reach in Southeast Asia after its Thailand-based unit made its official launch, which included the addition of a new food delivery service.

Get, which is the name for Go-Jek business in Thailand, started out last year offering motorbike taxi on-demand services to a limited part of Thai capital city Bangkok, now the company said it has expanded the bikes across the city and added food and delivery options. Get’s management team is composed of former Uber staffers while CEO Pinya Nittayakasetwat was recruited from chat app Line’s food delivery business.

Over the last two months, Get claims to have completed two million trips in the past two months. There’s no word on when Get will add four-wheeled transport options, however. On the food side, Get is claiming to have 20,000 merchants on its platform but there are some issues. Rumming through the app, I found a number of listed restaurants that didn’t include menus. In those instances, customers have to input their dish and price which makes it pretty hard to use.

Go-Jek’s Get app in Thailand doesn’t include menus for a number of restaurants, making it nearly impossible to order

Grab is the dominant player in Thailand, where it offers taxis, private cars, motorbikes, delivery and food across eight markets in Southeast Asia. Go-Jek rose to success in its native Indonesia, where it began offering motorbikes on demand but has expanded to cover taxi, cars, food, general services on-demand and fintech. Its investors include Google, Tencent, Meituan and Sequoia India.

That’s the same playbook Grab is using, but Go-Jek is taking its time with its market expansions. Thailand represents its third new market beyond Indonesia, following launches in Vietnam and Singapore. The Philippines is another market where Go-Jek has voiced a desire to be present — it has even made an acquisition there — but regulatory issues are holding up a launch.

Regional expansion doesn’t come cheap and Go-Jek is in the midst of raising $2 billion to finance these moves. It recently closed $1 billion from existing investors, and Deal Street Asia reports that it could raise as much as $3 billion for the entire Series F round. That’s likely in response to Grab’s own fundraising plans. The Singapore-based company closed $2 billion last year, but it is looking to increase that total to $5 billion with a major injection from SoftBank’s Vision Fund a key piece of that puzzle.

Today’s floods in California may be a preview of a more extreme future

A storm in northern California dumped so much water on the region that roads turned into moats, isolating two California towns. It’s the kind of storm that experts project might become more extreme as climate change continues — which could mean a future of even worse flooding for California.

Over the past few days, parts of northern California have been drenched with record levels of rain. North of San Francisco, the Russian River rolled over its banks to surround the Sonoma County towns of Guerneville and Monte Rio, The Press Democrat reports. Yesterday, thousands of people were told to evacuate. By today, it was too late for some: “Guerneville is officially an island,” the Sonoma County sheriff announced on Facebook. “You will not be able to get into or out of town without a boat today.”

The storm, which has tapered off, is an atmospheric river. These bands of warm moist air roll in off the Pacific, hit the coastal mountains, and cool down — showering California with rainfall and snow every winter. “It dumped amazing amounts of rainfall that have sadly created serious flooding along the Russian river and some other rivers,” says Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

That’s because the atmospheric river stalled, lingering over already wet soil and swollen rivers and increasing flooding in the process. “That firehose just got stuck on Sonoma county and sat there,” says Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.

These floods show why atmospheric rivers are double-edged swords for California. They drop between 25 and 50 percent of the thirsty state’s precipitation over just a few days every year. But they’re also to blame for an estimated 81 percent of levee breaches in California’s Central Valley, according to a 2015 report. And in 2017, back-to-back atmospheric rivers accelerated damage to the crumbling Oroville dam spillway.

To capture that balance between benefit and hazard, Ralph proposed a new scale published earlier this month in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. It ranks atmospheric rivers based on the amount of water they’re carrying, and how long they linger. The scale ranges from a “weak” category 1 that mostly brings helpful precipitation to an “exceptional” category 5 that’s far more hazardous than helpful. Based on early measurements, Ralph estimates that the one that just drenched California falls around a category 3 or 4 — somewhere between strong and extreme.

While Ralph can’t speak to the effects of climate change on this particular atmospheric river, he says we may be able to expect worse atmospheric rivers as climate change continues. Warmer air can hold more water vapor, which means more rainfall. But winds, which are also important for atmospheric river formation, are expected to slacken on average as temperatures at the poles climb. “These two trends compete with each other in terms of the long-term projections,” Ralph says. “One says weaker, one says stronger.”

That could mean somewhat fewer atmospheric rivers in general, but it could also mean that some of the ones we do see are likely to be bigger, and stronger, a recent study from Ralph’s lab predicts. “An average AR has about 25 Mississippi Rivers worth of water vapor transport going on,” Ralph says. “A stronger AR would be like adding additional Mississippis worth of water vapor flow.”

UPDATE WED 1:45pm: The River keeps rising! This is the Guerneville Bridge (Hwy. 116). Stay safe.

Posted by Sonoma Sheriff on Wednesday, February 27, 2019

That’s likely to bring more flooding, particularly as rising temperatures mean more rainfall that can swell rivers, and less snow that sticks to the slopes. “The extremes will get more extreme,” says Kelly Mahoney, a research meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The potential for devastating floods is something California’s water managers will have to account for as the state’s reservoirs juggle the contradictory jobs of flood protection and water storage. “People have been grappling with this for for a while — the feast or famine, flood or drought paradigm we’ve seen over many years,” Mahoney says. “And the fact is that the projections are for that pattern to continue.”

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Medium lowers its paywall for Twitter users – TechCrunch

If you’re not the paying sort, Medium has a mile-wide new hole in its paywall that might interest you. (But really, you should be the paying sort.)

On Wednesday, Medium CEO and Twitter co-founder Ev Williams announced that Medium is tearing down its paywall for readers that visit the site through Twitter. In tweets, Williams elaborated on the company’s thinking a bit, explaining that the decision wouldn’t affect Medium members who rely on paid readerships, as paid readers would still be counted like they were before.

All @Medium paywalled stories are now free and unmetered when you’re coming from Twitter.

— Ev Williams (@ev) February 27, 2019

“It doesn’t affect compensation—assuming you mean for Partner Program,” Williams said. “That’s determined by readership from paying members, which will still be counted (assuming they’re logged in).”

Still, it’s difficult to imagine how paid memberships will go up with content readily accessible for free. When asked by a Twitter user if the decision would disincentivize would-be paying users, Williams maintained that Medium would be keeping an eye on what happens to its paid subscription base.

“We will certainly watch that, and if it has a negative impact, we may change this in the future,” Williams said. “As it stands, Twitter is a relatively small (but important) part of our traffic, and we expect this to have a positive effect.”

Part of that logic is likely the idea that bringing more people into Medium through Twitter will convert more paid readers. A Medium membership is $5 monthly or $50 a year and that money goes into a pool that is doled out to writers — a refreshingly creator-friendly approach compared to the house-always-wins attitude of other platforms.

Earlier this month, Medium picked up San Francisco publication the Bold Italic to sweeten its paywalled offerings. It’s clear that cultivating some premium content is central to Medium’s move to bring in subscribers, but the gaping Twitter-shaped hole in the paywall is a bit counterintuitive. Still, with Medium — as with all mercurial tech platforms in publisher’s clothing — everything is subject to change.

In late 2017, Medium added the option for any author or publisher to operate their own paywall on the platform, but it revoked the offering abruptly last year. That move reminded publishers getting cozy with Medium that the company is, at its heart, a tech company that can change its approach to business on a dime, taking publishers along for the ride.

However it shakes out, it’s clear that Medium is trying out a few new things. A day prior to the paywall announcement, Medium launched a new tech and science publication called OneZero — one of the four new digital magazines. Medium plans to power those flagship editorial brands with its “sustainable, subscription business model.” That model is something it didn’t have in place in early 2017, when Medium hit some bumps, made some layoffs and lost the Ringer (and other smaller publishers) before realigning itself in order to chart a non-ad-supported path forward.

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Discovery will return for a third season – TechCrunch

We’ve still barely caught up with the Red Angel, whatever it is, but CBS just confirmed that Star Trek: Discovery will be coming back for a third season. Discovery will also add Michelle Paradise as a co-showrunner alongside Alex Kurtzman, making her the fifth showrunner to come aboard the Discovery in its relatively short tenure exploring the known universe.

“The massive success of Star Trek: Discovery‘s second season launch exceeded our expectations in both driving subscriber growth and generating a phenomenal response from Star Trek fans,” CBS All Access Executive Vice President Julie McNamara said. “With Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise at the helm, we look forward to continuing Star Trek: Discovery‘s journey, growing the Star Trek franchise on CBS All Access and bringing fans new Star Trek stories for many years to come.”

We’re about halfway through Discovery’s second season, which is set to have 14 episodes. The show’s first season consisted of a handful of separate-ish story arcs, from Michael Burnham’s redemption to the Tardigrade drama and then on to the deeper, darker mad science and Terran Empire stuff. So far, Season 2 has drifted between a more episodic formula and the mystery of Spock, in what’s likely a season-spanning story arc, though honestly we’ll be happy with whatever happens as long as we don’t ever have to hear about the mycelial network again… ever.

While Discovery Season 2’s standalone adventure episodes are fluffier fun, the show’s willingness to plunge into the dark side of Starfleet keeps us coming back. That aspect of the show is apparently compelling enough that it’s even inspired a Discovery spin-off centered around Starfleet’s morally ambiguous black ops team Section 31 starring Discovery’s excellent Michelle Yeoh.

In the US, the new season of Star Trek: Discovery will continue its exclusive run on CBS All Access. That means fans of the latest iteration of the well-loved series will have to keep ponying up for yet another streaming service if they want to keep up with Burnham, Saru and Tilly as they navigate the vastness of space with only an intergalactic moral compass and the mycelial network (ugh) to guide them.

Moderating content doesn’t have to be so traumatic

Alicia Keys’ Cover of Pointer Sisters “Yes We Can Can” Video

New Games with Gold for March 2019

Welcome to another Games with Gold reveal for Xbox One and Xbox 360! In March on Xbox One, take to the sea and save the world with Finn and Jake in Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion, then it’s an all-out vegetable and undead battle extravaganza in Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2. On Xbox 360, and Xbox One via Backward Compatibility, command the elite Delta Squad against the vile Separatists in the classic Star Wars: Republic Commando, and then prepare to wield Raiden’s devastating katana blade in Platinum Games acclaimed action game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

All games will be available exclusively for Xbox Live Gold members for a limited time as part of Games with Gold. With Xbox Live Gold, you get the most advanced multiplayer service, free games, and exclusive member discounts on games in the Microsoft Store — get Xbox Live Gold today to get in on the action!

Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion

Take to the high seas in Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion. Help our heroes Finn, Jake, Marceline, and BMO discover why the Land of Ooo is underwater. Explore by land and sea, fight pirates, and search for hidden clues to solve the mystery and save their drenched world!

Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2

Prepare for all-out battle in Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2. Dr. Zomboss has strengthened his zombie army, but the plants are on the offensive to reclaim their turf!  Choose either side in 24-player multiplayer, 4-player co-op modes or go at it solo. The battle for suburbia begins now!

Star Wars Republic Commando

Chaos has erupted across the galaxy and it is your duty to combat it in Star Wars Republic Commando. Set during the events of the Clone Wars, as leader of an elite squad you’ll need to infiltrate, dominate, and annihilate your enemy. Your unit will follow your every command and act as a team to destroy the Separatist forces. You are the leader; they are your weapon.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

The renowned Metal Gear franchise goes an exciting direction in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Focusing on pure-action and epic storytelling, play as cyber-ninja Raidan, a child soldier transformed into half-man, half-machine. Slice and dice your cyborg enemies and take on a worldwide conspiracy with a high-frequency katana blade and a soul fueled by revenge.

Read more about our Games with Gold program here and stay tuned to Xbox Wire for all the latest news on Xbox. Also, check out more than 100 great games in Xbox Game Pass included in its monthly membership that you can try free for 14 days.

Pokémon Sword and Shield to land on Nintendo Switch this year – TechCrunch

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have unveiled the next Pokémon game in the main series. The new game will come in two variants later this year — Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield.

Nintendo announced the new game in a Pokémon Direct live stream. And if you’ve been playing Pokémon in the past, you’ll feel right at home. The design of the world and the characters looks just like Pokémon Let’s Go on the Nintendo Switch, but with more details.

There will be a new region called Galar and that vaguely looks like the U.K. In addition to cities, you’ll be walking around mountains, caverns and woods. And of course, there will be new monsters, new gym leaders, new fights and a blank Pokédex to fill.

Seeing this brand new world feels surreal when you think about the GameBoy days. Nintendo is probably going to sell a ton of games to new players and older players who still have fond memories of the early days of the franchise.

The new starting roster is made of three different monsters — Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble. You’ll have plenty of time to think about your pick as the game should hit the stores at the end of 2019.

The Google Home app can now change the color of all your smart lights

Google gave its Home app a substantial redesign back in the fall, morphing it into a command center of sorts for all smart home gadgets that are compatible with Google Assistant. Instead of opening separate apps to operate those devices (or relying on voice commands), Google moved many useful toggles and controls right into the Home app and put a centralized hub right in your hand. But it didn’t include everything. For instance, the Home app could adjust the brightness of smart lights around your home or turn them on and off, but not change their color — until now.

The most recent update to the Google Home app adds a new palette of colors that you can choose for each smart light you’ve got to quickly shift its color. As Android Police notes, the options are more limited than the wide color palette you’d get using a dedicated app from companies like Philips or LIFX: you can pick between 42 different colors with the Home app. That’s still plenty if you want to switch up the vibe or at least change over to something besides white without messing with multiple apps or having to say anything aloud to a Google Home speaker or Google Assistant on your phone.

Another slight annoyance is that the Home app doesn’t display what color each bulb is currently set to; it only shows whether they’re on /off and the brightness level. Hopefully you’ve named your lights sensibly enough that it’s obvious which one you’re controlling at a given moment.

The latest version of Google Home, with its new smart light color picker, is available now on both Android and iOS.

Katy Keene TV Show Details

The Archie Comics TV universe is about to get even bigger, as The CW has ordered a pilot of a new show inspired by the comics. This time, it's fashion guru Katy Keene who's getting the TV treatment. If you love the musical episodes of Riverdale, this is the show for you: it will take the action to New York City, with Variety describing it as a "musical dramedy [that] chronicles the origins and struggles of four aspiring artists trying to make it on Broadway, on the runway and in the recording studio."

Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa will once again take the helm, alongside Michael Grassi (who's also written for Riverdale). It's expected to be tonally different to both Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, with the "dramedy" description suggesting it'll be lighter and more fun. As the show is set to air on The CW (the same as Riverdale), this also opens up some exciting possibilities for the kind of crossover we didn't see with Sabrina, and one Riverdale cast member has already been confirmed to appear in the show.

If the pilot is picked up, the show should air later this year. Keep reading to find out who's on board already.

9 Myths About Eating Disorders

This week marks National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. To help bring awareness to a serious health issue affecting more than 30 million people, we’re sharing some myths about eating disorders — and the truth about them — from Dr. Allison Chase of the Eating Recovery Center.

9 Myths About Eating Disorders — and the Truth

While there have been recent, tremendous breakthroughs in the science and treatment of eating disorders, widespread misconceptions remain that challenge identification, diagnosis, and early intervention of the disease.

Myth 1: Eating disorders aren’t serious illnesses.

Truth: Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) are very real and very serious mental illnesses. Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. In fact, women ages 15 to 24 years of age who suffer from anorexia nervosa are 12 times more likely to die from the illness than any other cause of death.

Myth 2: Eating disorders are just about food.

Truth: While eating disorders generally involve obsession with calories, weight or shape, these illnesses are rooted in biological, psychological, and sociocultural aspects. Restriction, bingeing, purging, or over-exercise behaviors usually signify an attempt to manage uncomfortable feelings or control something of substance in the individual’s life.

Myth 3: Eating disorders don’t develop until the teenage years.

Truth: Consider this: research found that up to 60 percent of girls between the ages of 6 and 12 are concerned about their weight or about becoming too fat, and that this concern endures through life. Not surprisingly, the incidence of eating disorders in children is on the rise. Between 1999 and 2006, hospitalizations for eating disorders in children 12 and younger rose 119 percent, according to a 2010 study by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Myth 4: Eating disorders are a women’s illness.

Truth: While research shows that eating disorders affect significantly more women than men, these illnesses occur in men and boys as well. While males used to represent about 10 percent of individuals with eating disorders, a Harvard study found that closer to 25 percent of individuals presenting for eating disorder treatment are male. The widespread belief that eating disorders only affect women and girls can prevent accurate diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders in a man or boy, even by healthcare professionals.

Myth 5: Only very thin people have an eating disorder.

Truth: While anorexia is often characterized by extreme low weight, many individuals struggling with bulimia, binge eating disorder, and EDNOS are normal-weighted. The misconception that an eating disorder can only occur if someone is very thin contributes to misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis in many cases, even among those patients seeking support from medical and mental healthcare professionals. Unfortunately, many healthcare experts lack eating disorder exposure and training, which highlights the important role of eating disorder specialists to ensure effective diagnosis and early intervention.

Myth 6: You can tell if someone has an eating disorder by looking at them.

Truth: Eating disorders do not discriminate. Those suffering from an eating disorder have a variety of different body types. The media and other public discussions about eating disorders often focus on a specific diagnosis: anorexia, wherein sufferers often display the symptom of being severely underweight.

Myth 7: Recovery from eating disorders is rare.

Truth: Recovery is absolutely possible. Due to the complexity of eating disorders, recovery can take months or years, but with treatment, many people do recover.

Myth 8: Eating disorders are caused by the media.

Truth: Many people are exposed to the media on a daily basis but only a small percentage of them actually develop eating disorders. Eating disorders are complex and serious illnesses that have biological, genetic and psychological roots. The media can certainly impact how a person feels about their looks, and promote a great deal of pressure to look a certain way, but the media does not cause eating disorders.

Myth 9: Eating disorders are a result of dysfunctional families.

Truth: Historically, parents, especially mothers, have been blamed for mental illnesses, including eating disorders. However, parents do not cause eating disorders. Eating disorders are complex disorders and it is known that a person’s risk for developing an eating disorders is due in large part to genetic factors. Parents, or other caretakers and loved ones play an integral role in helping loved ones with eating disorders recover.

If you are concerned that you or a loved one may have an eating disorder, please visit eatingrecovery.com for more information.

A huge thanks to Dr. Chase for sharing this important information. –Jenn

Challenger bank N26 plans to expand to Brazil – TechCrunch

Fintech startup N26 plans to launch its retail banking service in Brazil in 2019. The company announced the news on stage at MWC in Barcelona.

N26 has already announced that its next market would be the U.S. at some point during the first half of 2019. Brazil should launch after that.

Right now, N26 is available in 24 European countries, including all of the Eurozone, the U.K., Denmark, Norway, Poland, and Sweden, Liechtenstein and Iceland.

The company reached 2 million customers back in November 2018. N26 says that it now has 2.5 million customers. It has processed €20 billion in transaction volume since its creation in 2013, and customers currently hold over €1 billion in N26 accounts.

Eduardo Prota will be the General Manager for Brazil. He’s worked for Santander, Cielo and various startups. N26 will compete with another challenger bank in Brazil, Nubank. The startup already has 5 million customers and has raised hundreds of millions of dollars.

N26 also recently raised $300 million at a $2.7 billion valuation. It’s clear that the company doesn’t want to stop at Europe. Let’s see if N26 can reproduce the same success on another continent.

Faraday Future says hundreds of furloughed employees won’t return to work March 1st

EV startup Faraday Future has told employees on “furlough,” or unpaid leave, that it can no longer bring them back to work on March 1st as planned, according to an internal email sent Tuesday and obtained by The Verge. The company says it is extending the furlough, but did not say for how long. These employees have been on furlough since December, with benefits.

Faraday Future has been searching for new funding since last October, when it got into an ugly public fight with its biggest outside investor, Chinese real estate giant Evergrande. Evergrande committed $2 billion to the California-based EV startup at the end of 2017, but Faraday Future spent the first $800 million installment by mid-2018. When Faraday Future asked Evergrande to advance about half of the remaining $1.2 billion, Evergrande ultimately refused, locking the two in a power struggle that left the startup nearly out of money.

As a result, Faraday Future’s workforce had their pay cut, underwent layoffs, and, eventually, hundreds of employees were placed on unpaid leave in December. Faraday Future’s headcount dropped from about 1,000 to 600 in early November. Only about 250 employees escaped the layoffs and furloughs as of December.

Faraday Future’s fight with Evergrande, and the subsequent layoffs and furloughs, also drove away a number of core executives last fall. The last remaining member of its original executive team, a longtime GM veteran and EV pioneer Peter Savagian, and the company’s co-founder Nick Sampson all resigned in a span of three days.

“The company is effectively insolvent,” Sampson wrote in an email to staff on the day he resigned. “I cannot continue knowing the devestating [sic] impact we are having on the lives of our employees, their families and loved ones as we as the [sic] ripple effect this will have on lives throughout our suppliers and the industry as a whole.”

Faraday Future and Evergrande reached a sort of truce at the end of 2018. Evergrande agreed to terminate the deal and let Faraday Future find a way forward using other people’s money (though the Chinese conglomerate still owns a large non-controlling stake in the EV startup).

The problem now is Faraday Future hasn’t been able to lock in any new investors. In the email sent Tuesday evening, Faraday Future says it “has been engaged in serious discussions with potential investors to raise both asset-based debt financing and equity funding,” but adds that these “funding efforts have taken longer than the Company initially anticipated.”

Founded in 2014, Faraday Future has spent years designing an electric luxury SUV called the FF91, which is supposed to be faster than most Teslas and sell for close to $200,000. The startup has been rocked by financial turmoil the last two years, though, which delayed its first car. After Evergrande’s investment in late 2017, Faraday Future aimed to get the FF91 into production by the end of 2018. But now, more than ever, the company and its car are in jeopardy.

Mila Kunis Shares Bachelor Theories on The Ellen Show 2019

Korean conglomerate SK leads $600M round for Chinese chipmaker Horizon Robotics – TechCrunch

Horizon Robotics, a three-year-old Chinese startup backed by Intel Capital, just raised a mega-round of fundings from domestic and overseas backers as it competes for global supremacy in developing AI solutions and chips aimed at autonomous vehicles, smart retail stores, surveillance equipment and other devices for everyday scenarios.

The Beijing-based company announced Wednesday in a statement that it’s hauled in $600 million in a Series B funding round led by SK China, the China subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate SK Group; SK Hynix, SK’s semiconductor unit; and a number of undisclosed Chinese automakers along with their funds.

The fresh capital drove Horizon’s valuation to at least $3 billion, the company claims. The Financial Times previously reported that the chipmaker was raising up to $1 billion in a funding round that could value it at as much as $4 billion. Such a price tag could perhaps be justified by the vast amount of resources China has poured into the red-hot sector as part of a national push to shed dependency on imported chips and work towards what analysts call “semiconductor sovereignty.”

Horizon did not specify how the proceeds will be used. The company could not be immediately reached for comments.

In 2015, Yu Kai left Baidu as the Chinese search engine giant’s deep learning executive and founded Horizon to make the “brains” for a broad spectrum of connected devices. In doing so Yu essentially set himself up for a race against industry veterans like Intel and Nvidia. To date, the startup has managed to make a dent by securing government contracts, which provide a stable source of income for China’s AI upstarts including SenseTime, and several big-name clients like SK’s telecommunication unit, which is already leveraging Horizon’s algorithms to develop smart retail solutions. Like many of its peers who are at the forefront of the AI race, Horizon has set up an office in Silicon Valley and hiring local talents for its lab.

Other investors who joined the round included several of Horizon’s returning investors such as Hillhouse Capital and Morningside Venture Capital. There were also some heavyweight new backers, such as a fund run by conglomerate China Oceanwide Holdings as well as the CSOBOR Fund, a private equity entity set up by China’s state-owned CITIC to back projects pertaining to China’s ambitious “One Belt, One Road” modern Silk Road initiative.

Slack has decided to somehow make its icon even duller and less notable

Why Did Colton Jump Over the Fence on The Bachelor?

Dating is supposed to be fun and exciting and hopefully lead to a happy ending. But when you take a process that typically unfolds over the course of months or years and speed it up to a couple of weeks, the journey is bound to be different. And when you take all that with the added pressure of being on national television, well, we call that The Bachelor. We can't blame contestants for their heightened emotions and, sometimes, hypersensitivity. In fact, seeing Colton Underwood hop over a fence, in what seemed like an effort to be free of the cameras, was understandable given the situation.

We've been gearing up for the big jump-over-the-fence scene since it was initially shown in the season's trailer. We can only imagine that Colton was dealing with a tough time with one or more of the women. (In the most recent preview, it seems to be either Hannah G. or Cassie.) As he walks away from the cameras, Colton says, "I'm f*cking done." That's about as much as we know based off the upcoming episode, other than the three remaining women who will supposedly be on it (Tayshia, Hannah G., and Cassie).

When Entertainment Tonight asked Colton how long he was gone after jumping the fence, he said, "I was gone for a while. In that moment, and the feelings I was feeling, I left the show. I just needed time to myself." The Bachelor had gone MIA, and we bet ones before him wish they could have done the same.

Remember that Colton doesn't have access to a cell phone or other technology, so he was truly by himself. "I'm a resourceful guy. I'm in Colorado, alright? I know how to make a little bonfire, fight off some coyotes, or whatever we got to do," he joked, noting that he did spend some of that time alone crying.

ABC's vice president of alternative programming, Rob Mills, confirmed on The Ringer's Bachelor Party podcast on Feb. 4 that despite some reports, Colton was only gone for a few hours, but production did have to send a full-on "search party" for him.

The big question on Bachelor Nation's mind is: what led him to jump over that fence? Well, you'll have to wait for next week's episode to see what specifically took it there. However, we do know that his emotions were taking over.

"Fantasy Suites week was the biggest week in the whole entire journey," Colton told The Hollywood Reporter. "The jump was the most emotional and the most physical that I had to be the entire season." This doesn't necessarily mean that the jump happened during Fantasy Suites week . . . but it also doesn't mean that it doesn't either.

"I will also say that fence jump is the most pivotal moment. That was a game-changer. That night changed how everything went," Colton said.

There has been plenty of drama this season, so we can't count out any of it for being the reason for the soon-to-be infamous fence jump. Sure, Caelynn Miller-Keyes and Hannah Brown have both been vocal about their feud, which started way before the show began taping and has now concluded, but similar drama between other contestants (like Nicole Lopez-Alvar and Onyeka Ehie) might have also helped to bring Colton to his wits' end or put him in a negative headspace. It hasn't exactly been the easiest season to deal with, right? Or maybe he's just straight-up overwhelmed and needs a damn minute to himself.

If you ask us, we're putting our money on the whole incident having something to do with Cassie. She's the only remaining contestant who has refused to tell Colton that she loves him, while also clearly being the one he sees himself having the best connection with. She straight-up tells her sister during hometowns that she's still not "there" in terms of wanting to get hitched to Colton, which could result in a fantasy suite blowout.

Watch Colton hop the fence at the 1:12 mark ahead, and stay tuned for The Bachelor finale, coming up soon!

Colton's dramatic journey to find love will be filled with romance, shocking twists, and plenty of tears. The new season of #TheBachelor begins January 7! Retweet if you're ready! pic.twitter.com/eG96I2yFah

— The Bachelor (@BachelorABC) November 20, 2018

On the strength of its Mixer partnership, streaming toolkit developer Lightstream raises $8 million – TechCrunch

Lightstream, a Chicago-based company which develops tools to augment livestreams, has raised $8 million in new funding as it looks to add monitoring, management, and monetization services to its suite of editing technologies.

Last year, the company inked a partnership with Microsoft‘s live-streaming Twitch competitor, Mixer, to let streamers on the platform add professional flourishes like images, overlays, transitions and text to streams or to edit streams, without a lot of professional editing tools or expertise.

“We got started when Twitch was the only game in town,” says Stu Grubbs, Lightstream’s co-founder and chief executive. “Twitch was the only big name back in 2014 when we started and to be a live streamer you needed to understand bit rates and codex. We set out to make that easier.”

The company works with Twitch, YouTube, and Mixer, but it was when the partnership with Mixer came along that the company’s user base began to explode.

Key to the adoption was Microsoft’s adoption of Beam which lowered the latency on Mixer’s video streams and made that product more compelling to users. Coupled with Microsoft’s reach as the one of the most popular platforms for PC and console gamers, Lightstream’s toolkit gained a powerful, and large user base.

For the past few years, the company has had between 1,000 and 2,000 streamers signing up every week to use its tools. There are now roughly 10,000 streamers on the platform, according to a rough estimate.

Now, with the new money, the company will look to double the size of the team and add some features that have been requested by Lightstream’s growing community of users, Grubbs said.

As a result of the new round, which included a $6 million equity commitment from investors including Drive Capital, MK Capital and Pritzker Group, and a $2 million debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank; Drive Capital General Partner, Andy Jenks, will take a seat on the company’s board of directors.

“Lightstream is an incredible company that has seen tremendous growth because of smart and efficient practices. Stu and his team stand at the convergence of multiple massive and rapidly growing industries,” said Jenks, in a statement. “Stu has immense passion and a keen vision for what they can do for creators and the impact Lightstream can have in live streaming, gaming, and beyond. They have assembled an incredible team, made smart strategic moves, created massive partnerships and are building towards something so big that we had to be a part of it.”